A random collection of over 1910 books and audiobooks authored by or about my transgender, intersex sisters, and gender-nonconforming persons all over the world. I read some of them, and I was inspired by some of them. I met some of the authors and heroines, some of them are my best friends, and I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing some of them. If you know of any transgender biography that I have not covered yet, please let me know.
Full title: "Cleavage: Men, Women, and the Space Between Us" by Jennifer Finney Boylan.
"What is the difference between men and women? Jennifer Finney Boylan, bestselling author of She's Not There and co-author of Mad Honey with Jodi Picoult, examines the divisions--as well as the common ground--between the genders, and reflects on her own experiences, both difficult and joyful, as a transgender American.
Jennifer Finney Boylan's She's Not There was the first bestselling work written by a transgender American. Since its publication twenty years ago, she has become the go-to person for insight into the impact of gender on our lives, from the food we eat to the dreams we dream, both for ourselves and for our children. But Cleavage is more than a deep dive into gender identity; it's also a look at the difference between coming out as trans in 2000--when many people reacted to Boylan's transition with love--and the present era of blowback and fear.
How does gender affect our sense of self? Our body image? The passage of time? The friends we lose--and keep?"
2025,
English,
Jennifer Finney Boylan,
USA,
Full title: "Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs" by Jonathan Ames.
"In Sexual Metamorphosis, Ames presents the personal narratives of seventeen gender pioneers. Here is Christine Jorgensen, the first celebrity transsexual, greeting thousands of well-wishers from the stage of Madison Square Garden. Here is Caroline Cossey, former model and Bond (as in James) girl, being outed in the tabloid press.
Here is novelist and English professor Jennifer Finney Boylan discussing her impending transformation with her heartbroken spouse and supportive yet confused colleagues. The result is a fascinating and compulsively readable book, filled with anguish, introspection and courage."
2005,
Caroline Cossey,
Christine Jorgensen,
English,
Jennifer Finney Boylan,
Jonathan Ames,
Renée Richards,
Full title: "I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted" by Jennifer Finney Boylan.
"For Jennifer Boylan, creaking stairs, fleeting images in the mirror, and the remote whisper of human voices were everyday events in the Pennsylvania house in which she grew up in the 1970s. But these weren’t the only specters beneath the roof of the mansion known as the “Coffin House.” Jenny herself - born James - lived in a haunted body, and both her mysterious, diffident father and her wild, unpredictable sister would soon become ghosts to Jenny as well.
I’m Looking Through You is an engagingly candid investigation of what it means to be “haunted.” Looking back on the spirits who invaded her family home, Boylan launches a full investigation with the help of a group of earnest, if questionable, ghostbusters. Boylan also examines the ways we find connections between the people we once were and the people we become. With wit and eloquence, Boylan shows us how love, forgiveness, and humor help us find peace - with our ghosts, with our loved ones, and with the uncanny boundaries, real and imagined, between men and women."
2008,
English,
Jennifer Finney Boylan,
"Cô ấy không ở đó" (She is not there) is the Vietnamese language edition of "She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders" by Jennifer Finney Boylan.
"When she changed genders, she changed the world. It was the groundbreaking publication of She's Not There in 2003 that jump-started the transgender revolution. By turns hilarious and deeply moving, Boylan – a cast member on I Am Cait; an advisor to the television series Transparent, and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times -- explores the territory that lies between men and women, examines changing friendships, and rejoices in the redeeming power of love and family.
She's Not There was one of the first works to present trans experience from the perspective of a literary novelist, opening a door to new understanding of love, sex, gender, and identity. Boylan inspired readers to ask the same questions she asked herself: What is it that makes us---ourselves? What does it mean to be a man, or a woman? How much could my husband, or wife, change—and still be recognizable as the one I love?"
2015,
Jennifer Finney Boylan,
Vietnamese,
"Bez nje: život u dva spola" (Without Her: A life in two genders) is the Croatian language edition of "She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders" by Jennifer Finney Boylan.
"When she changed genders, she changed the world. It was the groundbreaking publication of She's Not There in 2003 that jump-started the transgender revolution. By turns hilarious and deeply moving, Boylan – a cast member on I Am Cait; an advisor to the television series Transparent, and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times -- explores the territory that lies between men and women, examines changing friendships, and rejoices in the redeeming power of love and family.
She's Not There was one of the first works to present trans experience from the perspective of a literary novelist, opening a door to new understanding of love, sex, gender, and identity. Boylan inspired readers to ask the same questions she asked herself: What is it that makes us---ourselves? What does it mean to be a man, or a woman? How much could my husband, or wife, change—and still be recognizable as the one I love?"
2004,
Croatian,
Jennifer Finney Boylan,
Full title: "She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders" by Jennifer Finney Boylan.
The book was published in 2003 and had many re-editions, including one in 2013. "When she changed genders, she changed the world. It was the groundbreaking publication of She's Not There in 2003 that jump-started the transgender revolution.
By turns hilarious and deeply moving, Boylan – a cast member on I Am Cait; an advisor to the television series Transparent, and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times -- explores the territory that lies between men and women, examines changing friendships, and rejoices in the redeeming power of love and family.
She's Not There was one of the first works to present trans experience from the perspective of a literary novelist, opening a door to new understanding of love, sex, gender, and identity. Boylan inspired readers to ask the same questions she asked herself: What is it that makes us---ourselves? What does it mean to be a man, or a woman? How much could my husband, or wife, change—and still be recognizable as the one I love?"
2003,
2013,
English,
Jennifer Finney Boylan,
Full title: "Stuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders"
"A father for six years, a mother for ten, and for a time in between, neither, or both, Jennifer Finney Boylan has seen parenthood from both sides of the gender divide. When her two children were young, Boylan came out as transgender, and as Jenny transitioned from a man to a woman and from a father to a mother, her family faced unique challenges and questions.
In this thoughtful, tear-jerking, hilarious memoir, Jenny asks what it means to be a father, or a mother, and to what extent gender shades our experiences as parents. Through both her own story and incredibly insightful interviews with others, including Richard Russo, Edward Albee, Ann Beattie, Augusten Burroughs, Susan Minot, Trey Ellis, Timothy Kreider, and more, Jenny examines relationships between fathers, mothers, and children; people's memories of the children they were and the parents they became; and the many different ways a family can be."
2014,
English,
Jennifer Finney Boylan,
Full title: "Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs" by Jennifer Finney Boylan.
"If you want to know what lies in someone’s heart, ask their dog. Dogs also enable us to express a kind of love that sometimes we’re too awkward or uncertain to share with other people. I think this is especially true for boys and men, for whom love can be particularly hard to express.
As a transgender woman who began life as a boy, it’s in the dogs that I owned pre-transition that I can now best understand men, and the person I once was, a long time ago. I look upon boyhood now the way an emigrant might look upon the distant country of her birth. There are times I can’t even quite remember what that country was like."
2020,
English,
Jennifer Finney Boylan,
